Tuesday, February 21, 2017

One morning, Lord Byron woke up and found himself famous.
One more recent morning, we awoke and found ourselves infamous: Donald J. Trump
had been elected President. Only an atom bomb would be a worse alarm clock.

Now you may ask if one did not vote for him, or promulgate
him in any fashion, why would one feel guilty. Because what you are surrounded
by, submerged in, taints you. Even the time to be spent deriding and deploring
him is humiliating, wasted. And, of course, divisive. In a time of plague, even
the rare uninfected are bound to be affected. Trump should have been stopped by
a joint effort from all of us, though who knows what that might have been other
than the nonvote deployed against him, which clearly proved ineffective. So we
are stuck with him, his family, his toadies, his ghastly appointees, for years
to come, with a couple of weeks of his presidency already proving poisonous.

His very name might have warned us. Donald, Eric Partridge’s
informative “Name This Child” tells me, is “the English form of Gaelic
Domhnall, [meaning] world-ruler.” Isn’t that the way the Donald sees himself? As for Trump, it
has several meanings, one of them, according to the Oxford English Dictionary,
is “a helpful and admired person.” I ask you: can you trump that? Evidently
part of the man’s delusional repertoire. Finally, there is “trumpery,” defined
as “a worthless article” or “junk.” Which covers him, most of his family, and
the whole gang of his appointees. Or would you buy a used car from Stephen K.
Bannon, or share the views that Mike Pence, with equal measure of fanaticism
and smugness, espouses?

Just look at Trump! Even the hair, which, though purportedly
genuine, the seventy-year-old surely has blondined, just as he makes his each
new spouse that much younger than himself, as if coiffed could constitute
coeval. Next, the face, which I would call porcine if it weren’t an insult to
honest porkers. Take the way his mouth purses itself into a horrid cuteness, to
accompany the childish vocalism and prissy finger and arm gestures. All of
which would be laughable if the accompanying utterance weren’t balderdash or a
monstrosity. I can think of only one face equally horrible, albeit in a
different way, that of Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader.

And what of Trump’s ideas? They run mostly from preposterous
to deleterious, with a very rare spark of common sense here and there, though
as likely as not an empty boast or promise. And the style? Why, anyone who has
read a few good books, which Trump evidently hasn’t, could manage a bit better.
But the disheartening thing is that the very grandiloquence and pomposity,
snappishness and obloquy are what have turned, even some of his betters, into
his defenders, on the naïve assumption that any change has to be for the
better. You know the one about the devil we know etc. Still, the majority of
Trumpsters seems to consist of uneducated and unemployed whites in the
red states, who may well deserve change, but not of this kind.

It is not as if, even so, he had far fewer voters than Mrs.
Clinton’s millions. But under the obsolete and absurd system of an Electoral
College, no better than the Trump University, the Donald managed to slip in. It should be the eternal
shame of the Republicans that they could not come up with a better candidate,
although not easy, considering the available field. We did have the overwhelming popular vote, but that
manifestly wasn’t enough to get rid of him. So here we are now, at the mercy of
a sinister, self-serving sot for years to come. Such narcissism, such egomania,
such vengefulness for the slightest disagreement, cannot but wreak substantial
harm on this country, this nation.

Our only hope, such as it is, is the courts. The “so-called
judge,” as Trump declared the worthy who has been able to foil him, and other
judges who joined the opposition, may findways to curb Trump, but it will be hard. How does one get
around a Republican Congress—all who put party ahead of country? One wonders
what circle of hell a contemporary Dante would consign Donald to. Meanwhile
what is certain is that he is making America grate, nationally and internationally. But what the hell, he is
making Putin happy.

Monday, February 6, 2017

What a bizarre, paradoxical, self-contradictory and
ephemeral thing is fashion! On the one hand, it challenges haute couture to
come up with ever more unique, far out, incomparable women’s clothes, if something
that frequently exposes enough flesh to scandalize the conservatives can still
be considered clothing. On the other hand, it prods the less affluent to
emulate what lesser novelties they can afford. In other, words, it
simultaneously stimulates the more daring and moneyed to be wholeheartedly, if
often half-nakedly, unique, while encouraging the less fortunate and flamboyant
to ignore the runway models while still following trends as much as their means
and modesty allow.

I am concerned here with modern times. I have no idea to
what extent, say, the togas of antiquity resembled or differed from one
another: what was worn by Demosthenes and Cicero, by Caesar and his assassins,
seems all equally like bed-sheets to my unsophisticated eye. My interest in
fashion begins with George Bryan Brummell, known as Beau Brummell (1778-1840),
a dandy who, contrary to what you might assume, actually launched more simply
cut men’s clothes, favoring trousers rather than britches, although still fancying
luxuriant neckwear.

Of course, there have been fops (bad) and dandies (okay)
from way back, but also aficionados for whom fashion was a more levelheaded
affair. Consider Shakespeare’s description of Hamlet as “the glass of fashion
and the mould of form,/ The observed of all observers,” clearly intended as a
model. Note the implication that he is the mirror in which all observant,
discriminating persons would want to see themselves reflected. A fashion plate
if you will, but surely no fop.

Yet there are no terms for female dandies, and indeed the
chronicles of male and female fashions tell very different stories. The female
fops, perhaps, may be called coquettes; the dandies, perhaps, chic or elegant--mere
modest adjectives rather than brash nouns. Basically, the difference lies in
that standard male attire resists major change, except on hipsters and
showoffs. These may wear odd outfits, as to a degree do fanatical male
fashionistas, who however are outside my purview. Women of fashion, conversely,
go in for seemingly endless variety, ranging from the merely individual and
stylish to the grossly outrageous, say from the Duchess of Cambridge to Lady
Gaga.

Why the basic conservatism of male fashion and the dizzying
diversity of the female? First consider what any clothing is about. It is to
hide the so-called private parts of the body, not suited to public display, but
also to protect from the weather. Yet why bypass the chance to make this
appealing? To whom? To the dignified wearer himself: solid, but with a certain
swing to it, say cinched waist and built-up shoulders. This allows for some
flexibility, such as the color or length of the jacket and the choice of two or
three front buttons. Also the width of the lapel, with higher or lower notch, and number and style of the pockets. Further, the length and finish
of the trousers, cuffs or not, tight jeans or even bell bottoms. All relatively
minor divergences, though, as between noodles and dumplings.

Accordingly, in its basic traditionalism or steadfastness,
male apparel appeals to women looking for solid relationships, even marriage,
from the dependable men who wear it, its near-conformity being a kind of
sartorial oasis. The only area where men can safely be fanciful is—Brummell
again—the necktie, of which I have a profligately profuse collection.

Thus I own scores of expensive ties, with perhaps twenty or
thirty different labels, my probable favorites being, in alphabetical order,
Abboud, Armani, Brioni, Chanel, Charvet, Fendi, Ferre, Hermes, Lanvin, Loewe, Mila Schön,
Nina Ricci, Saint Laurent, Valentino, Versace, and Zegna, and several others (e.g., Celine
and Guy Laroche) close at heel. Yet some fastidious Frenchwomen have mocked my
zeal for what the French call griffé i.e., featuring
prestigious labels, which they take as a sign of snobbery. But, snobbish or
not, I got a nice range from them, a variety over the years, enhanced by
changes of width, going from splashily wide to chastely narrow, though not
quite the present pencil thin, an exiguity that strikes me as almost as bad as
narrowness of mind.

But what now of women’s fashions?Here freedom and diversity reign, from more sources than I
can begin to enumerate, so I will limit myself to two great designers, both as
it happens Spaniards by birth, but active in France or Italy. They are Mariano
Fortuny y Madrazo and the Catalan Cristobal Balenciaga Eisaguirre, the latter
referred to as the king of fashion by, among others, Women’s Wear Daily, and by
Christian Dior as “the master of us all.” Fortuny because he was a pioneer;
Balenciaga because—but here let me quote what Wikipedia has to say of him “the
most brain-catching designer of his period because of his structural designs,
that were never seen before—a master of tailoring. . . always able to translate
his illustrations from paper to real life. . . . Due to his advanced tailoring
skills . . . he reshaped women’s silhouette in the 50s” and beyond.

One of the reasons for the variety and exuberance of women’s
fashions is that historical tradition has unjustly limited women to such minor
pursuits. But it is also true that women strive for threefold appeal: to men,
whom they wish to attract; to other women, whom they want to impress; and to themselves,
whom they desire to gratify when they look in the mirror. Which is where colorfulness and gaiety come
in, as well as originality and variety.

All this, however, under some control, elegance or chic
dictating certain judicious limitations. Many of today’s fashion designers,
European or American, adhere to such restraint, but many, alas, do not.Let me cite two egregious examples. In a photograph in the Times, which I regrettably did not
keep, one of the Trump scions was seen escorting (and probably involved with) a
fashion model who wore a truly curious dress--or undress. Its upper part
consisted of a maze of ribbons, carefully calculated to the centimeter to
reveal as much nudity as permissible while avoiding what might be outright nakedness and considered
sartorial porn. There once was a couturier called Rudy Gernreich who actually
designed a topless dress, which, however, did not catch on.

My other example—this time excess rather than subtraction—is
a picture in the January 29 Times Sunday Styles section, with the following
caption: “Chanel’s belted crystalline slip finished in feathers [creating] an
impression of modernity.” Down to well below the knee this is a straightforward
dress—except for an overbroad, ostentatious, seemingly metallic belt—with two
unassuming shoulder straps. It is made of an acceptable black and white, closely patterned fabric, and all is well until the extensive bottom part. From
about mid-calf, we get a surrounding, dustbuster-like excrescence,
apparently designed not only to ensnare the eye, but also to sweep the floor
nearly as well as a broom. All feathery white, but heaven knows what color
after the floors finish with it.

So then, if you are very wealthy or very famous, or better
yet both, you can get away with gowns that no prudent woman would wear, such as
this one with its alleged “impression of modernity.”Or the one cited above, with its approximation of nudity. Fashion, I repeat, is a strange thing: embraced with taste
and moderation—think, for example, Oscar de la Renta or Carolina Herrera—it can
be very impressive, yet also, in excess, depressing or even ludicrous.

But beware! Colley Cibber, the second-rate dramatist
ridiculed by Alexander Pope, wrote in his 1696 play “Love’s Last Shift”: “As
good be out of the world as out of the fashion.”Even inferior playwrights can occasionally speak the truth.

About Me

I've written for over 50 years on theatre, film, literature, music and fine arts for the Hudson Review, New Leader, New Criterion, National Review, New York magazine, Opera News, Weekly Standard, Broadway.com, Bloomberg News, The Westchester Guardian and on the Yonkers Tribune website. I'm continuing my contributions to the New York Times Book Review, Weekly Standard and New Criterion. Recently I've been seen on Heat Street. I have a PhD from Harvard University in Comparative Literature.